


Trick or Treat!

by jadedepths



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Baking, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Halloween, Love Confessions, M/M, Short & Sweet, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 00:12:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16691635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadedepths/pseuds/jadedepths
Summary: Feelings are sticky, sugary things that stick to the roof of your mouth and the back of your teeth so that the sweetness remains like icing a long time after you finish chewing.To put it simply: Renjun and Jaemin bake cupcakes to prepare for their friend group's Halloween party a week after Jaemin made a late night confession.





	Trick or Treat!

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I would write more in October (I failed) but I did get this out of it! It's cute and simple and that's all I really wanted it to be. This is my first time posting anything on here, so thank you to anyone who pays me any mind. Forever trying my best, 
> 
> Sam.

# Trick or Treat!

 

Renjun has always been an overthinker. It’s just one of those things that _is_. The sky is blue, Mariah Carey’s Christmas album is the best Christmas album ever released, the grass is green, Renjun can never get out of his own head. He just likes to try to work through every scenario--past and future--trying to rework all the possibilities so that _maybe_ he won’t make an absolute ass of himself to the world. 

He’s been staring at the sky for way too long, watching the way the oranges and reds are fading on the horizon, trying to think of literally anything besides how damn nervous he is. He’s standing in his kitchen in front of the window that looks out onto his backyard, surrounded by a plethora of baking ingredients for the cupcakes he’s going to be making with Jaemin tonight. It’s the 30th of October, the night before Halloween and his friend group’s annual Halloween party. The leaves on the trees he can see from where he’s standing are in their classic autumnal state of death, beautiful in the way that only nature can be. He stares at the horizon for a little longer and he thinks _Jaemin is gonna be here soon._ Then all he can really think is _Shit shit shit shit shit._

Before busying himself with getting the kitchen in order, he had spent the last half hour wandering around his empty house and staring at the decor, thinking, picking apart every single aspect of last weekend--the past four years, really--in his mind to try to figure out how the _hell_ he didn’t see it coming. There’s the hot glue/ribbon/plastic spider conglomeration of a “wreath” hanging on the front door that Chenle put together after two hours too long and several requests from Jaemin for “more glitter” so that it will shine as “bright as Renjun’s eyes.” There are the pumpkins sitting on the mantle; Jaemin’s is sitting on the edge, decorated with a series of hearts with _“HR + NJ”_ in a beautiful, curvy script in the center. (Renjun had blushed at that one and shoved Jaemin while laughing because _Classic Nana_ ). There’s the couch where they had cuddled after the rest of the boys had left, Donghyuck sending a wink Renjun hadn’t really cared enough to decipher the meaning behind as he closed the front door behind him. 

Renjun remembers lying awake next to Jaemin that night after everything went down, eyes wide open, sighing as he got exactly why Hyuck had winked at them. He had looked over at Jaemin, brown hair covering his eyes, lips tilted up slightly at the corners. His eyes traced Jaemin’s frame while he listened to the soothing sound of his soft breaths, gaze growing fond at the way Jaemin’s eyebrows pulled together in his sleep, the way he mumbled something incoherent before reaching out to Renjun, hands curling in his hyung’s t-shirt. Renjun couldn’t have helped the way he had melted immediately, pulling Jaemin closer and falling asleep to the sound of a heart beating quietly against his. 

Classic, classic Nana. 

Renjun got a particularly strong urge to punch himself in the face for being the very, absolutely, extremely stupid last person to realize that Jaemin has a crush on him. He had stood there a few minutes ago, staring at the mantle, the couch, the door to his room where it had all went down, and he felt like the world’s biggest fool. 

It’s just that at some point in the several years that they had known each other, it had become a part of their dynamic for Jaemin to be overly affectionate and flirty with him. For the longest time, Renjun’s side of the equation was always the reserved, annoyed friend; he’d respond to Jaemin’s touches and advances with a shake of his shoulders, a pushing away, an eye roll and a slap. How was he supposed to notice the transition from _joking_ pick-up lines to genuine ones? Was there ever even a difference? Had Jaemin just always had a crush on him? Renjun sighs. 

There are so many unanswered questions and unknown possibilities and he has managed to work through approximately zero of them, staring out the window with a recipe open on the laptop in front of him, _A Step-by-Step Guide to Boo-tiful Halloween Cupcakes!_ displayed across the screen. He jumps when the doorbell rings and his nerves spike as he makes his way towards the front of the house. It’s been five entire days since they saw each other in person, since their heart-to-heart that night. Five days for Renjun to think about his obliviousness, their past, and his complete and total lack of experience. That last one is probably what has him the most unnerved. He’s _eighteen_ years old and he’s never even kissed a boy. Jaemin’s probably kissed boys before. He tries to ignore the way his fingers shake as he unlatches the lock and pulls open the door. 

The second that his eyes find Jaemin, his worries melt away and all he can think is _this is my best friend._ He looks at Jaemin, hair ruffled from running over (he _is_ an hour late after all), mouth fixed in a wide grin, eyes smiling just a bit as he greets him, and Renjun knows that he doesn’t have anything to worry about. He’s always safe with Jaemin. He can always find safe-haven in the lines that form next to Jaemin’s eyes when he smiles, in the intertwining of their legs when they sleep in his bed, in the way Jaemin’s fingers always find their way between his when they’re watching movies together. His house never really feels like home until Jaemin’s there, sat on the floor by the couch, the counter in the kitchen, the edge of his bed. 

Jaemin holds up a grocery bag, “Delivery for a….” he pretends to look at a clipboard, “Huang...Renjun?”

Renjun rolls his eyes in response, but grabbing his idiot of a friend by the arm and pulling him into the living room feels a lot like a homecoming. 

\--

They mess around while throwing together the ingredients for the cupcakes, having contests to see who can mix the batter the fastest or pour the dry components into the bowl the most dramatically. To put it simply, they make an absolute hell of a mess in Renjun’s parents’ kitchen and don’t do anything to address the elephant in the room for the first 45 minutes that they’re together.

The mood in the room becomes something quieter but comfortable as they clean up the mess they made after sliding the cupcakes in the oven to bake. At first, Renjun is nervous about the silence when the cleaning is done and he can’t busy himself because he can feel Jaemin’s eyes watching him from the seat he took on top of the counter, eyes curious and fond. It makes his stomach twist. A couple of minutes go by and Renjun stares intensely at the digital clock on the stove, feeling every single second pass between 9:48 and 9:49. He hears Jaemin take in a breath, like he’s on the verge of saying something, and Renjun thinks _say it, God, please say it_ but he doesn’t. He’s scared of making the first move again after being let down that night. 

When Renjun finally turns his gaze to Jaemin’s, he’s met with the same honest expression that he saw last week, laying in the dark in his room. He doesn’t even entirely realize that he’s moving closer, stopping a few inches away and looking up into pretty, brown eyes. He grabs ahold of Jaemin’s hand, intertwining their fingers in a way that he doesn’t usually initiate. His mind flashes to that night, the way Jaemin had confessed to him so quietly _“I like you more than I should. I have for a while.”_ , and it was so late, and Renjun was just so tired and all he could manage to respond with was a soft _“Oh.”_ Like an asshole. Like an idiot. But he just needed time to think and it was two in the morning and he had school the next day. He had spent the past week trying to justify it to himself, trying to pretend the way Jaemin’s face had looked so crestfallen in the silver lighting wasn’t eating at him, trying to keep himself from texting Jaemin to come over before he felt ready to address it. He just had never thought about whether or not their relationship, their affection, their cuddling, their late-night talks ever meant anything _more_ and he needed time to ponder on it. He needed the week to work through all of the possibilities, the past and the future and the present, to work through his own emotions and everything he had managed to suppress over the years. 

Things had just always seemed so simple before, Jaemin and Renjun were a duo, and Renjun was so sure that he was happy with how things were. But he spent the week thinking about the way the sun bounces off of Jaemin’s skin in golden hues in the summer, about the way he always wants to be close, closer, closest to him, about the way he finds himself staring when he thinks no one else is really looking. Now, standing in the harsh lighting of his kitchen, he thinks about the idea of spending his life without ever getting to kiss the boy in front of him and his mouth goes dry. 

Jaemin looks down at him, head tilted to the side, eyes confused but hopeful. 

“I’m confused, Injun. You were so...I thought--” he lets out a sigh and Renjun swears he can feel every bit of exhaustion and frustration in the way Jaemin frowns, “I can’t read your mind.” 

“I just needed time to think,” Renjun says it fast like he’s out of breath, and he’s sure that Jaemin can sense his regret in the way his voice goes up a pitch higher at the end. Defensive, worried, sorry. Jaemin’s gaze softens and he leans closer, an undertone of hope lifting his brows just a little. Renjun thinks he couldn’t get any cuter. “I’ve liked you for a while too. I just didn’t realize. I wrote everything off as normal but I’ve been thinking and I...you...we…” 

“I don’t want you to convince yourself that you have feelings for me when you don’t, Renjun.” He says it with a pain that he tries his best to mask, “I want you happy, always. Being friends is enough.” Renjun can tell it isn’t enough in the way Jaemin’s voice fades off at the end.

“I mean it. I know I do. I-” His eyes find focus in the turned down corners of his best friend’s lips. “I kind of want to kiss you…” He looks up then, heart beating fast at the way Jaemin’s eyes widen in surprise. Then Jaemin smirks. 

“Kind of?” 

Renjun lets out a nervous laugh, breathy, and pushes his feet up on the tip of his toes so that their noses are touching, “So much more than kind of. I _really_ want to.” 

Renjun doesn’t even have time to think about the fact that he’s never kissed anyone before as their faces get closer, and he can feel Jaemin’s warm breath against his skin as his mouth opens just a little. He reaches up, wrapping a hand behind Jaemin’s neck and their lips meet softly, perfectly, finally, _right_ as the fucking kitchen timer goes off. 

When it beeps, Renjun starts and his head knocks against Jaemin’s very effectively ruining the romantic atmosphere. He apologizes hurriedly, a blush spreading across his cheeks, and barely catches the way Jaemin smiles at him sweetly as he turns around to get the cupcakes out of the oven. He sets them on the counter matter-of-factly, putting his hands on his hips proudly. They’re perfect, a gorgeous yellow tone, wafting a strong scent of vanilla cake through the air. Absolute heaven. 

“Those smell really good…” Jaemin says, longing in his voice. 

“We can’t eat any tonight. We have to wait until tomorrow.” It’s a tragedy, really, but Chenle had very threateningly forced them both to promise to save all of the cupcakes for the party because it just _‘wasn’t fair for them to get first dibs since the other boys weren’t there.’_ They bought enough ingredients to make exactly 24 and if a single one was missing there would be hell to pay in the form of a five-foot, nine-inch angry friend. 

“Well.” Jaemin hops off of the counter gracefully, landing with a soft thud on the kitchen floor. “Let’s put some icing on these motherfuckers.” 

\--

 

They start off seriously, they really do. Jaemin concentrates hard, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he focuses on icing his half of the cupcakes with orange as perfectly as possible while Renjun delicately dusts his half with bat-shaped sprinkles. Then, Renjun makes a stupid reference to a Disney movie -- _“We'll name this half Marlin Junior and we'll name this half Coral Junior,"_ he says, staring at their cupcake-children adoringly-- and Jaemin shoves him so that he messes up one of his cupcakes. It escalates from there and turns into a competition to see who can sabotage whose half the most. 

At some point, Jaemin leans over when Renjun is focusing particularly intensely and wipes icing across the side of his face, from his ear to his mouth. Renjun drops his piping bag to the counter loudly and sighs in faux exasperation, staring as seriously as he can with orange spread across his jaw. Jaemin grins back at his glare with a sheepish look before guiltily walking over to a drawer and getting a rag. 

Renjun snatches it out of his hands, squinting as menacing as possible as he starts wiping his face off. Jaemin's smile grows. 

"You're not scary now. Just precious." Renjun rolls his eyes, trying to fight the way his mouth tries to twitch into a smile. 

"Did I get it all?" He asks quietly, tilting his head to the side so that Jaemin can see. 

Jaemin laughs softly, shaking his head from side to side. "You missed a spot." 

And before Renjun can proceed anything, for the second time, Jaemin is so close that he could pick out every mole, every eyelash, every sunspot on his skin. His thumb finds its way to the corner of Renjun's mouth, and he presses it against the edge of his bottom lip, swiping across to get the rest of the orange icing off. Renjun feels like his heart's going to stop beating and like it might burst out of his chest at the same time. He does allow himself to scrunch his nose up in disgust, though, when Jaemin brings the thumb up to his own mouth and licks the icing off. Gross. 

Then, he's knotting his fingers in Jaemin's shirt, pulling him close, closer, closest like he'd wanted to do for the past day, the past week, the past year. There's a moment of hesitation, a question formed in Jaemin's eyes, _‘you're sure?’_. Renjun leans forward and presses their lips together in answer. 

Their kisses are quick at first, peck and pull back, and then Jaemin puts his hands on Renjun's waist and presses him against the counter and Renjun swears he sees stars. All he can taste is chemically altered icing and the warmth of Jaemin's mouth and he thinks _This. This is what all the fuss is about._ Jaemin starts beaming, making their teeth hit against each other in a way that makes them both laugh, hot air hitting each other's cheeks and Renjun pauses to catch his breath, resting his head against Jaemin's shoulder. 

"Oh!" He catches the clock's time in his eye and smiles, leaning back again to meet Jaemin's gaze once more, "Happy Halloween." 

Jaemin's hands tighten from where they rest on his hips and Renjun can tell by the mischief in his eyes that he's going to say something cheesy, "It's only this happy because I'm getting to spend it with you."

Renjun scoffs and rolls his eyes before leaning in to kiss Jaemin one last time (he swears). 

Classic, classic, classic Nana.


End file.
